On a real growth journey

The growth of Lancashire’s scaleup sector has been described as one of the county’s real economic success stories over the past decade – with no signs of its momentum slowing.

Figures show the county outperforming some big city economic powerhouses when it comes to scaleup businesses and the potential for further growth.

Recent research has shown county’s scaleup growth is higher than areas such as Liverpool City Region, the West Midlands and Glasgow.

However, it is the past five years where the Lancashire scaleup community has really thrived.

The 2025 Annual Scaleup Review showed 970 scaleup firms in Lancashire – businesses consistently growing at 15 to 20 per cent per year – compared with 705 in the 2020 report, an increase of almost 38 per cent.

That growth is supported by the strong support ecosystem that exists locally including Two Zero, operated by the county council. The service has supported 143 scaleups since 2020 with dedicated help to tackle key challenges.

Amin Vepari, business finance and scaleup lead, Lancashire County Council said: “The impact scaleups have on the UK’s overall economic performance is again clear to see in the latest Scaleup Annual Review.

“Despite accounting for 0.8 per cent of the business population, scaleups contribute £2.19 trillion to the UK economy, around 50 per cent of total economic output, up from £1.4trn in the previous year’s report.

The Scaleup Annual Review also assessed the key barriers to scaleup growth across the UK.

The biggest challenge for respondents to the Scaleup Institute’s p survey was access to UK and international markets, cited by 58 per cent of respondents.

Following this was talent and leadership development (55 per cent) and access to bank and equity finance (42 per cent).

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